We are pleased to offer babysitting services to our members and prospective members at Tuesday meetings.

Fees

To help make the service more affordable, childcare is subsidized by our fundraising efforts. This allows us to offer babysitting for only $8 for your first child and an additional $4 for siblings per Tuesday meeting.

For your convenience, you may purchase a pre-paid card of 10 babysitting sessions. This alleviates the need to bring cash to each meeting. You may carry the card forward to the next year, or transfer to another mom. Alternatively, you may pay-as-you-go with cash as required.

Payment may be submitted via e-transfer to info@northtorontomoms.com (please use security password MOMS2017).

Payment by cash or cheque may also be submitted at any Tuesday meeting or by mail to: North Toronto MOMS group, c/o St. Timothy's Church, 100 Old Orchard Grove, Toronto, ON M5M 2E2 (no cash by mail, please). Please make all cheques payable to "MOMS Group" (please use this exact wording so that we can avoid cheque processing issues with our bank).

Our Sitters

Our experienced sitters are dedicated to ensuring that your child has a pleasant experience. Many of our sitters have been with the MOMS Group for several years. They provide age-appropriate toys to play with in each of our childcare rooms.

The Childcare Rooms

We offer childcare for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. There is a room for infants (no minimum age) through early walkers, and a separate room for active walkers through preschoolers. The infant/early walker room is located on the same floor as the MOMS meeting room. The active walker/preschooler room is located in the basement gymnasium. A member of our childcare team would be happy to direct you to the appropriate room for your child.

Childcare Expectations

While a child is in the childcare rooms, his/her mom must be present in the building at all times.

For safety reasons (e.g., spilling of hot beverages), to provide moms with ‘mom-only’ time, and to minimize disruption for our speakers, we ask that only young infants (under four months) stay in the MOMS meeting room. We are all moms, so we understand that babies cry. We do ask out of respect for our speakers and others, that if your baby becomes disruptive, you step out of the room for a few minutes to soothe them. You are welcome to use our childcare for babies under five months if you wish - there is no minimum age for babysitting. Please use our wonderful childcare for all babies that are four months or older.

Should your baby require your comfort, a feeding or a diaper change, a sitter will come and request you from the meeting room. All diaper changes must be made at the diaper changing station located in the family washroom on the main floor.

At each visit, you are required to sign in and sign out each child in the attendance binder at drop-off and pickup. In the unlikely event there is an emergency, we use the attendance binder to ensure that all children are accounted for and, if necessary, have safely evacuated the building. The accuracy of the attendance information is critical to the safety of children, moms and first responders. Kindly use the masking tape provided to write your child’s name on it and affix it to their back.

Sickness

Should you or your child become sick, we ask that you stay home and delay your visit until another time. According to these guidelines from Toronto Public Health, it is recommended to stay home if you or your child are sick and suffer from ANY of the following:

•runny eyes

•rash

•persistent cough

•green-coloured mucus

•fever (even low-grade) within the last 24 hours

•diarrhea within the last 24 hours

•vomiting within the last 24 hours

Labeling, Snacks and Allergies

A snack of Arrowroot cookies is provided during the session. Children are welcome to bring a sippy cup with water to accompany the provided snack. Due to allergy concerns, we request that you not bring in outside food or drinks other than water for your child.

Please also be advised that we will respect any allergies brought to our attention to the best of our abilities. However, the MOMS Group cannot guarantee an allergen-free environment.

Please write your child’s name on their sippy cup and car seat to ensure your items are used for your child only and are returned to you at the end of each session.

Fire Safety

We conduct a fire drill each Fall to be prepared for a fire emergency. The sitters and the fire team are responsible for safely escorting the children out of the building to their designated waiting areas until we have permission to re-enter the building. Moms can pick up their children after the drill as instructed by the fire team. Complete instructions are provided on our registration day and prior to our Fall fire drill. Please click here for additional information.